Polymer nanocomposites comprising polymers and inorganic materials have attracted much attention as they have better properties relative to more conventional polymer composites comprising traditional particulate filler materials. The formation of nanocomposites comprising thermoplastic polymers, such as a polycarbonate matrix polymer and an inorganic nanomaterial as filler, is known to be a difficult process, mainly due to incompatibility between the nanomaterial and the polycarbonate domains. As a result, the nanomaterial remains largely localized in the form of agglomerates in the polycarbonate matrix, thereby leading to a poorer dispersion of the nanomaterial in the polymer matrix. Therefore, a relatively higher amount of nanomaterial may be required to achieve the desired degree of dispersion of the nanomaterials in the polymer matrix and form polycarbonate nanocomposites having significantly improved physical properties, such as, for example, increased hardness, extension-modulus, and the like. Further, the use of a higher amount of an inorganic nanomaterial can result in a polycarbonate nanocomposite having inferior optical properties, such as for example, reduced transparency or increased haze. Common approaches of melt-mixing or solution-mixing the polycarbonate and the nanomaterial may not lead to the formation of nanocomposites having a nanoscale dispersion of the nanomaterials in the polycarbonate matrix.
Therefore, it would be desirable to identify methods for preparing polymer nanocomposites comprising a polycarbonate and nanomaterials such that the nanocomposites have improved physical properties and performance characteristics, such as extension-modulus, hardness, transparency, and combinations of the foregoing properties.